Reflections on God and Money: Day One: Advent Sunday

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:24

Welcome to this series of reflections on God and money.

On at least two occasions, Jesus of Nazareth said that we cannot serve both God and money. The first time was in his Sermon on the Mount, when he described the sort of lifestyle he expected of his followers (see Matthew 5-7); the second was when he confronted the greed of the religious establishment, when he described their love of money as a form of adultery, likening them to a man who divorces his wife to marry his mistress (see Luke 16).

Why did Jesus place money in opposition to God? Was he suggesting there is something inherently evil in money? Or is the danger more subtle?

Money is a tool that was created independently in different parts of the world and at different times in history so that people could exchange goods and services easily. Like all tools, it was neutral – neither good nor evil but available for both, depending on the user. Without money, communities could not have grown and we would not now enjoy many of the public services that we take for granted.

But money quickly evolved into something more than a tool. It is what people came to rely on more than anything else to get things and to get things done. Economic theory is now widely regarded as a primary means of studying and explaining human life. The creation of wealth through capitalism is seen as the way to satisfy people’s needs and desires. Money is the global status symbol that promises freedom, security, purpose, power, happiness − and even love. Some people make its accumulation their life’s goal; others see it as the path to fulfilment or the things it can buy as defining who they are.

This poses some difficult questions. For example, to what extent does the amount of money we earn or have, and the ways we spend it, affect our sense of self-worth and help define who we are?

____________________________

These Advent Reflections do not teach personal finance skills and where these skills are mentioned the issues have been simplified. Handling money and dealing with money problems and debt can be complicated and neither the author nor anyone else involved in the production of these Reflections is responsible for any action you take, or fail to take, based on what is written here.

You are invited to put a link on your website to these Advent Reflections.You are welcome to copy these Reflections for personal study or for circulation to family and friends on a non-profit basis. For any other purpose, however, whether or not for profit, you will require written permission in advance from the author before copying, reproducing or transmitting extracts in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or using any information storage and retrieval system.

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Day One: Advent Sunday